Back in my alpine climbing days, we used to say, “Go lite. Freeze at night.” And we did. With the new light weight backpacking gear, it’s no longer necessary to freeze at night. After 5 years of trial and error, I’ve got my base backpacking gear down to just under 10 pounds: that includes everything except food and fuel. With 5 days of food, I’m around 20-22 pounds. That kind of weight has made backpacking fun again. See Light Weight Backpack Gear List